CONNERSMITH is very pleased to announce Lincoln Schatz’s first solo exhibition with the gallery. Innovative and uniquely American, “The Network” presents a composite portrait of power in Washington, D.C. in new generative digital art, photographs, and installation.

Using three video cameras, Schatz recorded his interviews with 89 policy makers and cultural operatives to create “The Network,” a digital conversation which was recently acquired by The National Portrait Gallery. Drawing inspiration from Richard Avedon’s political portrait photographs, Schatz updates an art historical continuum that began with Raphael’s sixteenth-century painting of Baldassare Castiglione as an eloquent embodiment of the Urbino court. Schatz blends artistry with technology, surpassing the Renaissance ideal of portraiture as a “speaking likeness” by giving full expression to the individual stories of his high profile sitters, who include Steve Case, Vernon Jordon, Rocco Landesman, Sandra Day O’Connor, Nancy Pelosi, John Podesta, and Paul Ryan.

After translating the raw video footage into analog format, the artist wrote digital code that accesses meta-tagged topics in all 89 interviews so as to present constantly changing sequences of sitters and concepts. Transitioning seamlessly from one speaker to another, the work continually generates a provocative nexus of contemporary ideas. In the gallery installation, Schatz brings the original context of these performative conversations to life, creating an immersive experience for his audience, whose personal perspectives will generate new relational meanings of the art.

Schatz’s works are in the collections of The National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC; The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL; San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA; and Fundación Privada Sorigué, Lleida, Spain.

There will be an opening night reception at CONNERSMITH. on Saturday, February 9th from 6 - 8pm.
Artist in attendance.

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